Old Winter and Queen Summer

The Old Winter and the Queen Summer (1)

In the long-ago time before the first white men came to live in the New World, and people lived always in the early red morning before sunrise, a mighty  race of Indian lived in the northeastern part of the New World.

Nearest the sunrise were they, and they called themselves Wawaniki　－ Children of Light.

Glooskap was their lord and master.

He was ever kind of his people, and did many great works for them.

Once, in Goosekap's day, it grew very cold; snow and ice were everywhere, fire would not enough warmth.
 

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昔々のアメリカのお話です。  
５日ほど、また３本立てです。

Old Winter and Queen Summer (2)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (2)

The corn would not grow and his people were perishing with cold and famine.

Then Glooskap went very far north where all was ice.

He came to a wigwam in which he found a giant, a great giant ー for he was Winter.



It was his icy breath that had frozen all the land.

Glooskap entered the wigwam and sat down.

Then Winter gave him a pipe and as he smoked, the giant told tales of the olden times when he, Winter, reigned everywhere; when all the land was silent, white, and beautiful.

The charm fell upon Glooskap ; it was the frost charm. 

As the giant talked on and on, Gloosekap fell asleep ; and for six months he slept like a bear ; then the charm fled, as he was too strong for it and he awoke.

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※wigwam
 
アメリカインディアンのうち、北東部から五大湖周辺の部族が伝統住居としたもの。曲げた丈夫な木の枝を柱に、樹皮や布を重ねて乗せ、入口に蓆むしろをかけて住居とする。テントと違って、中にかまどを切り、火を使うことも出来る。

※found 間違えました。しいません。in which he found a giant

Old Winter and Queen Summer (3)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (3)

Soon after he awoke, his talebearer, Tatler the Loon, a wild bird who lived on the shore of the lake, brought him strange news.

He told him a country far off to the south where it was always warm : there lived a Queen, who could easily overcome the giant, Old Winter.

So Glooskap, to save his people from cold and famine and death, decided to go and find the Queen.

Far off to the seashore he went, and sang the magic song which the whales obey.

Up came his old friend, Blob the Whale.
She was Glooskap's carrier and bore him on her back when he wished to go far out to sea.



Now the Whale always had a strange law for travelers.
She said to Glooskap, " You must shut your eyes tight while I carry you; to open them is dangerous; if you do that, I am sure to go aground on a reef or sand-bar, and cannot get off, and you may be drowned. "

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (4)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (4)

Glooskap got on her back, and for many days the whale swam, and each day the water grew warmer and the air more balmy and sweet, for it came from spicy shores.

The odors were no longer those of salt, but of fruits and flowers.

Soon they found themselves in shallow waters.
Down in the sand the clams were singing a song of warning.
" O big Whale, " they sang, " keep out to sea, for the water here is shallow. "

The whale said to Glooskap, who understood the language of all creatures, " What do they say ? "

But Gloosekap, wishing to land at once, said, " They tell you to hurry, for a storm is coming. "

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (5)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (5)

Then the whale hurried until she was close to the land, and Glooskap opened his left eye and peeped.

At once the whale stuck hard and fast on the beach, so that Glooskap, leaping from her head, walked ashore on dry land.

The whale, thinking she could never get off, was very angry.

But Glooskap put one end of his strong bow against the whale's jaw, and taking the other end in his hands, he placed his feet against the high bank, and with a mighty push, he sent her out into the deep water.

Then, to keep peace with the whale, he threw her a pipe and a bag of Indian tobacco, and the whale, pleased with the gift, lighted the pipe and sailed far out to sea.

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (6)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (6)

Far inland strode Glooskap and at every step it grew warmer, and the flowers began to come up and talk with him.

He came to where many fairies dancing in the forest.

In the center of the group was one fairer then all the others; her long brown hair was crowned with flowers and her arms filled with blossoms.

She was the Queen Summer.

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (7)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (7)

Glooskap knew that here at last was the Queen who by her charm could melt Old Winter's heart, and force him to leave the land.

He caught her up, and kept her by a crafty trick.

The master cut a moose-hide into a long cord; as he ran away with Queen Summer, he let the end trail behind him.

The fairies of Light pulled at the cord, but as Glooskap ran, the cord ran out, and though they pulled, he left them far behind.

So at last he came to the lodge of the Old Winter, but now he had Queen Summer in his bosom; and Old Winter welcomed him, for he hoped to freeze Glooskap to sleep again.

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (8)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (8)

But this time the Master did the talking.

This time his charm was stronger, and the sweat ran down Old Winter's face.
He knew that his power was gone and the charm of Frost was broken.

His icy tent melted.

Then Queen Summer used her strange power and everything awoke.

The grass grew, the fairies came out, and the snow ran down the river, carrying away the dead leaves.

Old Winter wept, seeing his power gone. 

The Summer, the Queen, said, " I have proved that I am more powerful than you. I give you now all the country to the far North for your own, and there I shall never disturb you. "

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Old Winter and Queen Summer (10 完)

Old Winter and Queen Summer (10 完)

The Queen Summer continued,
" Six months of every year you may come back to Glooskap's country and reign as of old, but you will be less severe. During of other six months, I myself will come from the South and rule the land. "

Old Winter could do nothing but accept her offer.

In the late autumn he came back to Glooskap's country and reigns six months ; but his rule is softer than in olden times.

And when he comes, Summer runs home to the warm Southland.

But at the end of six months, she always comes back to drive Old Winter away to his own land, to awaken the northern land, and to give it the joy that only she, the Queen, can give.

And so, in Glooskap's old country, Old Winter and Queen summer, the hoary old giant and the beautiful fairy queen, divide the rule of the land between them.

(10/10 完)
なんとなく予想されていたとはいえ、そうだったの～、という結末で。